Wide-ranging approaches to the theme “Art on Wheels” – all of which included the use of recycled objects – were demonstrated in the work of Laurent Baude, Nancy Jurs, Lillian Mendez, Christopher Stangler, Ellen Steinfeld, Carol Townsend, and Alfonso Volo.
Alfonso Volo, painter, sculptor, and video artist, describes his work as “forms (which) take on absurdity and humor when they are created in a dialogue between the mysterious and the explicit.” Fettered Sweaters for Toy Vehicles falls within this context by contrasting seemingly innocent toy cars covered in pastel colored baby yarn with fish hooks, metal screws and glued fake eyes. Twelve-foot, crocheted-yarn string attached to each vehicle, loops up to a screw inserted in the corner of the room 6 feet above the floor, suggesting that these creatures are being taken for a walk or pulled like fish out of the sea. Giving animal or human traits to our possessions—cars, boats, even power tools—is common practice. Our Jaguars, Mustangs, and Cougars are compared in discussions of performance and speed—she can do 0-60 in 4 seconds—is acceptable parlance. We are not sure what these tethered and hooked, fuzzy-yarned vehicles with evil-eyed tires are about. It is this humor, this ambiguity, this macabre surrealism that distinguishes the works of Alfonso Volo.